Always Learning, Always Creating Value

Order in Design. Beauty in Chaos.

I saw this photo on Facebook today.
I initially thought it was a fake photo because it looked too perfect, too orderly. But it’s real. It’s an aerial shot of Barcelona which is the capital city of Catalonia which is an autonomous community of Spain (like a province/state). The logical part of me loved this design, in that it would be very easy to navigate, although it kind of reminded me of the dystopian future of Judge Dread with its infinitely vast city with huge city apartment complexes (per the banner).
Some interesting information about Barcelona:
– second most populous city in Spain (1.6 million, vs Madrid 3.1 million)
– the largest city on the Mediterranean Sea
– initially founded as a Roman city, it is today the capital of the Principality of Catalonia
– the top three largest groups of foreign residents (from 2012): Pakistan, Italy & China
– made up of 10 administrative districts

Coincidentally I saw this photo on Facebook as well by @Misskayteedee.
This is Lauterbrunnen which is a village in Switzerland. Unlike the sprawling Barcelona, Lauterbrunnen’s population is 2451 (as of Dec 2015). Although significantly smaller than its Spanish counterpart, it looks like it might be a nightmare to find a specific house (and a long, if not scenic walk). The photographer part of me loves this picture: the lake, the mountain range, the fields and the quaint village. I imagine the light pollution is at a minimum and the night sky is illuminated each night by the stars.

Some interesting info of Lauterbrunnen:
– the village lies at the bottom of a U-shaped valley
– 22.6% of the population are resident foreign nations (as of 2010)
– 85% of the population speaks German as their first language, Portuguese is second 5%, and Croatian is third at 2%
– the Lauterbrunnen Valley was used as concept models for J.R.R Tolkien for the fictitious valley of Rivendell